For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Pangaea Logistics (PANL) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Transportation sector should help us answer this question.
Pangaea Logistics is a member of our Transportation group, which includes 100 different companies and currently sits at #11 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Pangaea Logistics is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PANL's full-year earnings has moved 82.1% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Based on the latest available data, PANL has gained about 20.1% so far this year. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of 7.2%. This shows that Pangaea Logistics is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another stock in the Transportation sector, Ryder (R), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 18.8%.
For Ryder, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Pangaea Logistics is a member of the Transportation - Shipping industry, which includes 22 individual companies and currently sits at #58 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 46.9% this year, meaning that PANL is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Ryder falls under the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry. Currently, this industry has 9 stocks and is ranked #205. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +10.1%.
Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to Pangaea Logistics and Ryder as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Pangaea Logistics Solutions Ltd. (PANL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).